


Refuge and Reform

by Beth Harker (Beth_Harker)



Category: Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-06
Updated: 2014-10-06
Packaged: 2019-09-29 04:37:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 554
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17196656
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Beth_Harker/pseuds/Beth%20Harker
Summary: "It’s okay to be something other than happy, Crutchie."





	Refuge and Reform

“It’s okay to be something other than happy, Crutchie.”

The night was late, and the breeze was cool. The moon and stars weren’t half bad for New York, and the residual hustle and bustle that consumed the city, even at this hour, seemed muted and faraway. Crutchie, from this vantage point, free and safe at last, sitting shoulder to shoulder with Jack on their rooftop, hadn’t even considered being anything less than happy. He turned to face Jack. The dark circles under Jack’s eyes were like battle scars.

“Yeah,” said Crutchie. “Yeah, I got that. So what’s eatin’ you?”

“Me?” Jack scoffed. “Jesus, Crutchie. I ain’t the one who got… Who got beaten’ up by some assholes and locked away ‘cause my friends couldn’t look after me right. You’se seemed so damn thrilled about everything since you got out, and that’s gotta crack sometime. Ain’t nobody goes to the Refuge and comes out in one piece.”

Crutchie shrugged, looked out towards the horizon, which was so much bigger here than it was on the ground. On the ground there was always a wall or a building in your way, but up here the sky stretched on forever, just like Jack talked about whenever he got going about Santa Fe.

“The Refuge is shut down now, and that new place they’s building ain’t gonna be a thing like it. It’s actually gonna help kids, not just lock ‘em up so’s to make 'em feel miserable and sorry they was born,” Crutchie said, and Jack nodded. Crutchie fiddled with the hem of his shirt. He was going to have a lot to do with the improvements at the new juvenile detention center. It wasn’t the kind of role he’d ever expected to play in life, but if it meant that some poor kid got taken care of instead of hurt, and that nobody got locked away who didn’t absolutely need to be, or got imprisoned for an unfairly long time, he was willing to do it. Even if talking about the Refuge was just as good as reliving everything he’d endured there, he was willing to do it.

Crutchie broke into a smile suddenly. “Look,” he said, “I feel great right now. I’m here with you, right? But tomorrow, when I talk to the governor, I don’t know if I’ll feel so great, so how ‘bout you come along? I always feel better when I got you.”

Jack nodded, reached out to squeeze Crutchie’s hand in a brief but crushing grip. For all that Jack looked serious and stoic, Crutchie could feel the tensity that drained out of his friend’s body well enough to know he’d said the right thing. Jack was somebody who needed to protect, to feel needed, and Crutchie knew that no amount of victory could satisfy Jack until he felt he’d atoned for every bad thing the strike had brought with it.

Besides, the Refuge hadn’t been great, and Crutchie couldn’t think of a man alive who’d want to revisit the memories of it without somebody solid by their side. Maybe he and Jack could be that for each other, and for all of the other kids that had ever been stuck in that place, and who would be brave enough to come forward and discuss prison reforms with Governor Roosevelt tomorrow.


End file.
